1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the area of processing information and particularly to the selection and storage of relevant non-machine readable information and associating the selected information with machine-read information.
2. Discussion of Background
Information storage, retrieval and display systems utilized in a business environment, and particularly an environment where there is a requirement for communication with customers by way of billing procedures, often utilize pre-printed forms which the customer must utilize in his reply, primarily to be returned with his payment. These returned forms are machine read and coordinated with the enclosed payment or they must be hand checked with respect to the amount of payment, the enclosed check and any other correspondence from the customer.
While the technology with respect to letter opening and machine scanning has advanced to the point where there is minimal human intervention, problems do arise with respect to hand written or any other non-machine recognizable coding or printing which either the company or the customer has placed on the form.
One type of system which deals with machine storage of non-machine readable information concerns the use of a optical scanner or a digitized camera apparatus which forms an image of the object which is then subjected to a compression operation and subsequently stored. The stored information can then be later read out or examined. While the utilization of compression techniques obviously provides for a savings in regard to storage size, it still requires the utilization of enough space so that all documents can be stored after compression.
In order to determine the content of any communication from the customer the document must be visually inspected upon receipt or after storage. If the customer has not provided any information on the document this is not able to be discerned except by visual verification either upon opening of the envelope or after storage of the compressed data representing the document. Of course once the document is stored it must be expanded and displayed before it can be inspected.
Even if the prior art types of devices are utilized to obtain an image of the item received, there is usually a limited amount of space available on the front of a form which is to be returned in a normal size envelope. The typical situation where a customer may add information to a received billing form exists where a change of address is about to occur. It is quite common for space for such change of addresses to be provided on the back of the form. In either event it requires individual human intervention in order to detect the address change or to store an image of the entire form for subsequent compression and storage which will be followed by inspection upon expansion and display. Once again the problem in this area concerns the requirement for each document to be either inspected or imaged and stored whether or not an address change has occurred.
The change of address form being provided on the back of the bill compounds the problem because it requires the operator to inspect the back of each document upon opening of the document to determine those having a change of address.
These same problems which have been illustrated with respect to a billing format are seen to exist in other information retrieval systems which deal with non-machine readable markings provided by alterations on the surface of the document including endorsements and stampings provided after the initial formation of the document and which contain information vital to a corresponding account number associated with the document.